David Schlesinger’s grave marker in Germany. It was broken during the Nazi-era, but has been restored and stands as a stark reminder to the horrors of Kristallnacht. It is also a reminder that he shall never be forgotten.

This is the Albaxen, Germany, home and business where David Schlesinger lived with his sister Minna on Kristallnacht. He was forcibly taken from his home on November 9, beaten mercilessly, and thrown into a tree from a moving truck. He died the next morning, November 10, 1938 at 11 a.m.

“It [Kristallnacht] taught those who were the source of prejudice that a whole people can be demonized; that a whole nation can be turned totally and obscenely against a decent, hard-working, creative, loyal and integral part of its own society.”

“Kristallnacht taught those remaining Jews who still retained hope that Nazism would modify its anti-Jewish stance that the time had come to leave, except those who still clung, as some did, to the belief that the norms of civilized behavior could not be totally breached or abandoned, and that, for example, war service for one’s country must be more meaningful than a stirred-up racial animosity.”

“Kristallnacht taught several overseas governments that the time had come to open their gates to the growing tide of refugees, Britain was among those countries that opened their gates widely, although still retaining, as did all countries except for a while at least, the International Settlements of Shanghai, restrictions and barriers to unrestricted immigration.”

“Kristallnacht taught the Nazi administrators and planners that they must in future act with silence and secrecy, hiding what they were doing to the Jews from the eyes of world indignation. The less the outside world knew or saw, the more efficient would be whatever policy they chose, and the less liable to outside concern or interference.”

“Kristallnacht taught, in hindsight, a historical lesson, that what begins as something finite in destruction and limited in time can quickly develop into a monster of mass murder; that evil has gradations, but is also a process, and can move smoothly, effortlessly forward to greater evil.”